When Julia (Mia Farrow) Lofting witnesses her daughter Kate (Sophie Ward) choke to death at the kitchen table, her mental stability (as should be expected) shatters. Plagued by depreson and a nasty case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Julia leaves her husband Magnus (Keir Dullea), and attempts to build a new life on her own, in a new location. But Julia’s new redence is no safe haven, and she soon discovers that the peace she seeks is very far from “home”, for these new corridors harbor an old, malicious spirit, and few who come in contact with this entity live to tell about it.

An eerie film in just about every sense imaginable, THE HAUNTING OF JULIA (which was originally released as FULL CIRCLE) packs a load of chills despite a slow start and overall conservative approach to Peter Straub’s original novel “Julia” (which served as the films source material). Director Richard Loncraine exercises some mple but effective visual techniques that succeed in creating a few unforeseen jolts. Perfect lighting and unorthodox camera angles make for some uncomfortable moments, and a creepy score composed by Colin Towns completes the cake - spreading the icing thick. For a film so particularly tame (with the exception of a few impresve scenes) in visual nature, THE HAUNTING OF JULIA is truly quite perturbing.
One of the most compelling qualities of the picture is the effectiveness in which Harry Bromley Davenport and David Humphries (who tackled the screenplay) layer plot twist upon plot twist. Never once does the picture feel jumbled, or too congested. Rather, each mystery is built upon plauble scenarios, and each new revelation is clearly explored, accentuated in key exchanges, and overall just really well fleshed out. Having noted the intricacies of the story itself, I suppose it would be extremely disrespectful to not also extend praise to Ron Wisman, who did a fantastic job of editing the film.

http://youtu.be/WQVrglbsjfQ

While I’ve been reading rumors of a DVD and Blu-ray release, I’ve yet to see to it happen, and I’ve been able to make absolutely zero verification that the process has even been approached at this point. It’s a shame actually, as I think a little restoration (particularly in the sound department) would do the film wonders, and I sure as hell wouldn’t mind a chance to see some scenes that may have met their fate on the chopping block…and hey, some bonus commentary couldn’t hurt either!

As it stands, you can stream the film right here, right now in this thread

Matt_Molgaard
Friday 10/21/2011 at 04:05 AM | 85599

Enjoyed this movie. The soundtrack in particular is haunting and beautiful at the same time

reelybored
Friday 10/21/2011 at 04:23 AM | 85601

true, it just needs a nice remastering job. The movies old, but i know this score is tting around somewhere, all tracked down and ready for some up-to-date technical magic